Economic development

The UK house building industry is a key component of the national economy, estimated to contribute £38 billion in economic output to the UK economy, support almost 700,000 direct / indirect jobs and contribute £2.7 billion in tax revenues to central and local government (Home Builders Federation: ‘The Economic Footprint of House Building in England and Wales - 2018).

As the UK’s 4th largest house builder by volume, we are committed to helping satisfy the supply/demand imbalance in the UK housing market. We also have an important role in delivering added-value benefits to local communities and the wider economy through job creation, supporting local businesses via our supply chain, investing in community services and infrastructure and through the provision of high quality homes. Bellway’s latest Economic and Social Impact Report, which estimates our own beneficial impact on the local and national economy, can be viewed here.

Employment

A thriving housing market and a prosperous economy are intrinsically linked. When we construct new homes and communities we create direct employment opportunities at Bellway and the strong market conditions has delivered year-on-year growth in our workforce.

Suppliers

Our construction activities also provide indirect employment opportunities through our sub-contracting arrangements and companies within our supply chain. These suppliers and sub-contractors are crucial to the efficient operation of our business. We nurture strong and long term relationships so we can optimise the quality and prices of our homes for customers and simultaneously ensure that suppliers and sub-contractors are paid in a timely manner. We support these relationships with our membership of the Prompt Payment Code, recognising our commitment to paying our suppliers within clearly defined terms.

Customers

A varied range of houses and apartments is important to enable customers to identify the right home for their needs and budget. However affordability is often an obstacle for customers wishing to get onto the property ladder and/or moving up to larger properties as their needs change. The continuing Help to Buy Schemes have proved to be a huge help to prospective home buyers. We also continue to provide a part-exchange service for existing home owners, a facility that can help remove some of the uncertainties surrounding home buying chains, and our commitment to building sustainable communities means we continue to deliver social homes across our developments.

Shareholders

Our shareholders are key to the long term viability and success of Bellway. We endeavour to maintain a strong dialogue with investors and keep them fully informed of our activities and strategy – our latest annual report and accounts can be viewed here.

Our strategy is to build long-term shareholder value through sustainable growth, combined with a strong focus the payment of an increasing dividend, together with an ongoing increase in net asset value ('NAV'), arising from reinvestment of retained earnings in order to secure further growth.

Summary of performance

Overall

We estimated that Bellway’s construction activities in 2019/20 contributed £782.5 million1 in gross value added (GVA) to the UK’s economic output (2019 – £1.3bn)


A £135m contribution to public finances through tax revenues (corporation tax; PAYE; NI) was made to central government as a result of Bellway’s activities (2019 - £211m)


An estimated £69.2m boost was provided to local authority finances through new Bellway homes - council tax receipts and New Homes Bonus payments (2019 - £71.1m)


Bellway spent £1.4bn in our supply chain (2019 – £1.7bn), with around £1.2bn remaining in the UK (2018 – £1.5bn)

Finance

With the impact of COVID-19, turnover fell by 30.7% to £2,225.4m (2019 – £3,213.2m)


£43.8m was paid in corporation tax, up 2.3% (2019 – £124m)


£17.4m was paid in Employers National Insurance to government (2019 – £17.4m)


£155.2m was paid in salaries to employees (2019 - £164.1m)

New homes

With the impact of COVID-19, new homes sold fell by 30.9% to 7,522 (2019 – 10,892)


There was an estimated £41.1m2 boost to the local economy through one-off spend from new Bellway home owners (2019 – £59.5m), followed by an estimated £229.1m3 ongoing annual local spend by these households (2019 – £324.5m)


22% of our homes were delivered to affordable housing providers (2019 – 22%)


27% of our homes were sold to first-time buyers (2019 – 30%), helping just over 2,400 homeowners get their first foot on the property ladder

Investment

£60.5m was committed in community investment through Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy in the past year (2019 – £77.3m)


We directly employ 2,889 people (2019 – 2,998 people)


We estimate that between 19,700 and 23,4004 jobs are supported by our construction activities, both directly, indirectly and induced through Bellway, sub-contract labour and our supply chain

1This figure has been calculated for Bellway by Nathanial Litchfield & Partners using their ‘Evaluate Framework’ and is based on an estimated 8,026 direct jobs supported by Bellway in the house building industry
2Estimated one-off spending on a new home of at least £5,462 - The Economic Footprint of House Building in England and Wales (2018) by Home Builders Federation and Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners
3Estimated using average UK household weekly expenditure figure of £585.60 per week (Office of National Statistics Family Spending Survey 2019)
4Using data/metrics from The Economic Footprint of House Building in England and Wales (2018) by Home Builders Federation and Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners

Performance data